


The Eternal Breaking in on the Temporal

by orphan_account



Series: those that awakened [5]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Ahch-To, F/M, Family, Force Training, Gen, Hugs, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-08
Updated: 2017-05-08
Packaged: 2018-10-29 11:20:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10852935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Rey finds her family after ten years of waiting, and now she has chance to get to know them.Rey discovers thunderstorms.





	The Eternal Breaking in on the Temporal

_"There is no justice in love, no proportion in it, and there need not be, because in any specific instance it is only a glimpse or parable of an embracing, incomprehensible reality. It makes no sense at all because it is the eternal breaking in on the temporal. So how could it subordinate itself to cause or consequence?"_

\- _Marilynne Robinson_  

 

 

~

 

Rey wrung out her rag and let it drip a moment before leaning forward and laying it gently on Luke’s chest. The chill from the storm was heavy. She hoped Ahch-To’s cool air was good for his burn.

 

She could see a lattice work of other lightening scars across his torso, slightly raised and pale red – indicating that they hadn’t been allowed to heal properly. And now, right above his sternum, there was a new lightening wound, a mottled circular burn inflamed on his skin.

 

Luke could now brag about having survived two Force-lightening encounters. One from Emperor Palpatine, a Sith lord and one of the cruelest men to have ever existed. Another from his own daughter.

 

The Force worked in mysterious ways, she’s been told.

 

~

 

Rey only had vague memories of her father. Or so she thought. She’d been young enough when he disappeared for her memories to confuse her. As she got older, the more she was convinced that they were fantasies.

 

And she had quite a lot of fantasies about a man in an orange flight suit scooping her into his lap. Or sitting on top of that same man’s shoulders, looking across a blonde head to a very blue sea.

 

She had dreams of an island. An island that promised…belonging. A bit of home. Maybe.

 

 _This island, s_ he thought.

 

~

 

Leia had sent her with some pretty ambiguous instructions. Though Rey could read the desperation coming off Leia, in the Force and in the strained edge of her left eyebrow, all Leia requested was, “When you find him, do what you feel is right.”

 

These instructions were contrary to what the rest of the Resistance seemed to want from her. And from Luke.

 

“Bring him back,” they all said. The small handful of Resistance officers, the Republic representatives (now _very_ concerned about the First Order, as opposed to their previous _mildly_ ), some of the now devastated pilots who had watched half their fleet fall away in the last battle – they all looked at her with wide, hopeful eyes. Some of them even seemed a bit angry.

 

One pilot cornered her while she waiting for Finn to get out of surgery to say very darkly, “When you find that Jedi, let him have it.” Rey wasn’t sure why exactly he was so angry, but there did appear to be an undercurrent feeling in everyone’s anxiety about Luke Skywalker – besides Leia, Chewie, and a nice man named Wedge (and _Han_ ) – that Rey identified as betrayal. It seemed strange to Rey that so many people would collectively feel betrayed by one man. Especially when she couldn’t sense that same edge of betrayal in those who would presumably care about Skywalker the most. Those whom Skywalker would’ve had the most obligation to, in Rey’s opinion. But the ways of most people were really a mystery to her. So much quick judgement based on so little. It was very confusing.

 

In the Force (Rey was glad to have a name for it now), she could sense they all needed _something_ and they thought perhaps that she had it. That she could give it to them.

 

It was this heavy expectation that ultimately helped convince her to leave so soon.

 

Leia had difficulty pulling her away from Finn’s side to show her the completed map. The idea of _not_ waiting for Finn to wake up from his healing sleep was initially repulsive to her.

 

“Commander Dameron will look after him,” Leia said, resting a small hand on Rey’s shoulder and nodding in the direction of a man, fidgeting in the doorway, shooting Finn very anxious looks. BB-8 was silently rolling back and forth in front of him. _Must be who Finn rescued from the First Order_ , Rey thought.

 

Rey just shook her head at Leia and turned back to Finn. She picked up his hand. It was too cold.

 

“I can’t leave him,” Rey said. “Why can’t someone else go get Luke Skywalker? Why not you? He’s your brother.”

 

Commander Dameron said from the doorway, “I’ll just wait outside, then.”

 

It was a nice gesture but the Resistance didn’t necessarily have the funds for an actual door or actual privacy. He just closed the thick curtain. Rey could still see BB-8’s round body peeking underneath the folds. She kept making concerned beeps, a noise more closely translated to worried sighs than words.

 

It put Rey a little on edge – to be surrounded by so many people. Constantly. She’d only been here a few hours.

 

Leia sat on the chair next to Finn’s bed (Rey was perched on the edge of it, comforted by the feel of Finn’s hip pressed to hers), and, in an unexpected gesture, dropped her head wearily into her hands.

 

“I can’t go, Rey,” she said into her palms. “I’ve got to stay here.”

 

Rey didn’t really understand the weight that sat on the General’s shoulder. Leia’s duty was too abstract. Rey knew very well that the First Order was bad. She knew someone had to stand up to them. She admired the Resistance for doing so. But Luke Skywalker was Leia’s family. And friend. That was the sort of obligation Rey understood.

 

“You are the next hope,” Leia said, lifting her head and fixing her steely gaze onto Rey’s. “There has to be balance. You must find him. He can help you.”

 

Rey felt tears spring to her eyes. Fear slithered across her mind as she felt the rising edge of her new power seek to assert itself. She gripped Finn’s hand a little stronger. She wished he would squeeze hers back.

 

“I know this is a lot to put on your shoulders,” Leia whispered. “I know what it’s like to be as young as you and – ”

 

Leia paused and look at their clasped hands.

 

Rey turned away from her compassionate brown eyes. She was tired and wanted to lay her head on Finn’s chest, as she had been doing before. Listen to his breathing.

 

“Perhaps I _don’t_ know, entirely,” Leia continued. “I know what it’s like to have your entire planet ripped away from you at the tender age of nineteen. I was very young then - younger than you in a lot of ways. I thought shutting out any sort of love and connection was the solution to my pain. Han, that brat, did his best to not let me. And Luke was there for me, always, no matter how cold I could sometimes be. I sense that you haven’t been young like that for a long time.”

 

Leia got up and placed one small hand on Finn’s forehead. She stroked gently with her thumb.

 

“Neither of you,” she said, though Rey thought she might now be talking to herself. “Both very young, really, but both so old. Something has aged you but, look at you. Still so ready to love…”

 

Leia shook her head and pushed her shoulders back. Rey watched her transform back into the General, the unyielding Princess from all those old stories.

 

(It suddenly occurred to Rey that Leia could never be anything but a Princess – she’d been robbed of her chance of being Queen. This seemed very sad, to Rey. That Leia would always carry Princess around as a memory and an empty sort of promise.)

 

“I know you want to help the Resistance, Rey,” she said. “This is how. Find my brother. I don’t know what he’s been doing these past ten years. I hate to ask more of him than has already been asked of him. So just go. Do what you think is right. He’ll help you with your power. And maybe you can help him.”

 

Rey swallowed and asked, “What about Finn?”

 

“I promise you, Rey,” Leia said, leaning down and holding onto both of Rey’s shaking shoulders. “I promise I will look after him. I promise _I’ll_ help him. He’s a good man who’s clearly been gravely mistreated. And I’m quite sure that Commander Dameron is already making friendship bracelets, so you know he won’t be alone.”

 

A muffled and affronted gasp came from behind the curtain followed by an amused titter from BB-8.

 

Leia called over her shoulder, “Don’t pretend, Dameron. We all know it’s true.”

 

Rey found herself smiling. And feeling like Finn was in safe hands.

 

Leia perhaps sensed this because she let go of Rey’s shoulder and said, “Come find me when you’re ready. The Resistance needs you to leave as soon as possible but we can certainly spare you a few hours to sleep, eat, and get some clean clothes.”

 

Rey nodded and turned back to Finn once the General had exited. She finally gave in to her weariness and curled up beside him, pressing her forehead to his bicep. Her brain fizzed with pleasure at this small amount of contact. It had been very long time since she had felt such warmth.

 

Later, after kissing Finn's forehead and giving BB-8 the very emphatic direction to take care of him, Rey made her way onto the tarmac. Chewbacca was waiting for her, silent with his grief but still a very supportive presence in the Force. Artoo was hovering around him. Threepio had told her that Artoo used to be a vulgar chatterbox but had basically shut down after Skywalker had vanished. She could sense the loneliness in Artoo – she was surprised by his level of sentience. Not that he had it, but that he wasn’t locked into hiding it. He wasn’t programmed to defer his sentience to his mechanical function. Even more than BeeBee, he was very capable of acting independently.

 

And even more than _that_ , he felt familiar. So familiar that it hurt in her chest.

 

Artoo rolled up to her and she placed a hand on his dome.

 

“Have we met?” Rey asked. Artoo merely beeped something like _Let’s find Luke_ , and bumped her leg affectionately. Whatever their connection, Artoo seemed unwilling to explain, so she simply started to follow him onto the ship.

 

“May the Force be with you,” Leia called.

 

There was a power in that, the words in Leia’s clear voice, that calmed Rey. She breathed in and walked up the ramp.

 

She hadn’t been able to sense it the first time, perhaps too caught up with the overwhelming sensation of meeting Finn, but the _Millenium Falcon_ had a funny aura of swagger to it. Like it knew it looked like junk but also knew it was one of the fastest ships in the galaxy.

 

It felt like Han.

 

~

 

She recognized the island. For the first time since deciding to leave, since looking at the complete map to Ahch-To, she felt a bit of her reluctance fade. This was _her_ island.

 

It was real.

 

Suddenly, her mind started filing through her old fantasies. Were they real too? Were they memories?

 

She tried not let her new doubts engulf her thoughts. She was nervous enough as it is.

 

“Aren’t you coming?” she asked Artoo and Chewie once they had landed and she started up the path. She couldn’t see another ship anywhere, but something was telling her that _someone_ was on this island.

 

Artoo seemed to sense so as well because he replied _I’ll see him, soon._ Chewie must have been privy to whatever Artoo knew because he just told her they would be waiting. She wondered if he was also unwilling to part with the ship for any extended length of time. (He hadn’t left it once, when they were back on base.)

 

So Rey trekked up the island by herself.

 

People had clearly lived here before. A community of people, not just the one. The ancient dwellings and stairs intrigued her. But the higher she got – and it was certainly a climb, her lungs needed a little more time to adapt to this planet’s thin atmosphere and the rapid increase in elevation – the more her head started to ache with memory.

 

She had been on this island before. It wasn’t just a dream, or a fantasy. She had looked out past the green cliffs to the endless sea. And something even more familiar was tugging at her heart. The layers of distrust she had built up over the past decade were keeping a certain spark of recognition shut away. It was painful to probe.

 

When she finally crested the peak, she saw a cloaked and hooded figure standing just beyond, looking out over the ocean. The part of her mind she had used to access the Force was throbbing. She was so confused. She felt lost.

 

He turned around.

~

 

In Rey’s mind, it was like a strong wind blowing through the still and unyielding desert air, breaking open it’s oppressive dry heat and shattering the chokehold it had on her burnt up body. The signal of a storm, rain, actual rain. It never lasted long and it was more storm than water. But on Jakku, those minutes of shade and moisture felt like an eternity of mercy. She had given the experience a lot of thought over the years, recalling rain storms in her mind to release the tension of surviving that would sometimes keep her up at night. The flood of water and mud, just as dangerous as dust storms but, for some reason, much more precious, was something Rey looked forward to every couple of years. Their frequency was almost negligible but Rey remembered each one in perfect detail.

 

Clutching her father’s shoulders was its own sort of flood. Only this time it wasn’t brief and this time it wasn’t meant to wipe out any lifeforms in its way, to start the land over. She had no experience for this type of flood. She couldn’t breathe. She was drowning.

 

Being held again. It was better than food. And Rey had been in a constant state of near starving for ten years.

 

~

 

Luke was leaning his head against Artoo’s dome, one of his hands still clutched in Chewie’s massive one, when it occurred to Rey that her dad, the pilot from her memories, was the legend Luke Skywalker, great Hero of the Galaxy. It solidified certain moments she remembered in her head – her toys floating in the air, a man trying to meditate with her, and many curious others. But it also made this whole situation seem unreal, like someone was going to pinch her arm and she would wake up again to another blistering day on Jakku.

 

“You’re Luke Skywalker,” she said, completely dumbfounded. She hadn’t said anything after her desperate _Father_ , since arriving, so he looked a bit mesmerized that she had finally opened her mouth.

 

He lifted his forehead off of Artoo, who was now shuffling about and twittering his glee, and released Chewie, who looked anxious to be getting back down to his ship.

 

Luke stood and wiped his eyes, fluttering his hands nervously.

 

“Yes,” he said. “I suppose you never really learned my name…”

 

Rey was trying to meld the image of one of the galaxy’s greatest heroes with the strangely sad man in front of her, twitching in discomfort under her gaze.

 

“No,” she whispered. “You were just, well, ‘dad’, I guess.”

 

At the word, his face looked like it was crumpling from happiness, like he was heartbroken from his own joy. It was intense and Rey was slightly unnerved at the power behind it.

 

“But,” she said, still feeling lost, “you’re _Luke Skywalker_.”

 

She said his name like it had far more meaning than a simple moniker. It did, though. He had to understand that himself. _Luke Skywalker_ wasn’t just a person. Not to the rest of the galaxy.

 

His sadness seemed to grow, but he pushed his shoulders back, in a way that so similar to what Rey had seen Leia do it startled her, and said, “Yes.”

 

Rey just shook her head, trying to gather her thoughts.

 

“It’s a slave name, you know,” Luke said. “Skywalkers were slaves until I was born. That’s the legacy I associate with my name. I understand it’s not quite the same for everyone else, but it’s still strange to hear it said with _any_ level of reverence. Perhaps on Tatooine they still remember the name Skywalker.”

 

And abruptly, Rey wasn’t as confused anymore. In the same way she had seen Han, Leia, and Chewbacca transform from legends into people, Luke had now done the same.

 

“Will you train me?” she asked. She felt as if she was asking five-hundred different question with the one. She didn’t really know what answers she was looking for, but she sensed that asking was the first step.

 

“Yes, Rey,” Luke said. “I will train you.”

 

~

 

Rey wanted to stay on the island a bit longer. When they had first set off, her plan had been to grab Luke Skywalker and shuffle him onto the ship so she could get back to Finn. Now though, she wanted to absorb some of the strange peace of Luke’s island. She wanted to retain this new experience of _safe_. She wanted to keep her father to herself, just for a little while, before he was grabbed up by the galaxy again.

 

She was torn between this and wanting to get back to Finn. The anxiety of it threatened to split her in half. The novelty of having _multiple_ people to worry about was also overwhelming.

 

Then Luke placed a hand on her arm and asked, “What do you want to do?”

 

Perhaps if Finn hadn’t just recently shattered Rey’s old rule of _Don’t Rely On Anyone_ , then Rey wouldn’t have opened up to Luke. But Finn had come back for her and now Luke was here, asking Rey to rely on him. So Rey, pushing through waves of unease and years of emotional habit, attempted to answer his question.

“I want to stay here, but, the Resistance needs you and, there’s Finn…” she trailed off. She had no practice explaining her feelings. And Finn was a lot of feelings she didn’t really know how to articulate.

 

Luke Skywalker, though, in a stroke of luck for everyone in the galaxy but him, was a terrifically powerful Jedi. He could sense her emotions without probing her mind. (She knew what it would feel like if he _did_ try to probe her mind, and she was ready to shove him out with as much fury as she did that _monster_. But Luke clearly wasn’t Kylo Ren. This was more of a relief than Rey could readily admit.)

 

“Finn is your friend,” Luke said and he was smiling for the first time since she arrived without that tinge of deep sadness. “I’m glad you have a friend.”

 

Rey almost laughed at his delight at such news. She knew that conventional wisdom would’ve taught her that a statement like that would be kind of patronizing, but she felt proud. She was satisfied with his pride in her. For having a friend.

 

It was ridiculous.

 

“He’s a friend, yes,” she said, blushing. “But he was injured very badly when I left. Leia promised she’d look after him while I was gone.”

 

“Of course she will, but you’re still worried about him,” Luke said, good-naturedly. “We can leave as soon as you wish. I have very little to pack.”

 

“No!” She said, frustrated. “I mean, yes, I am worried about him, but I also want to, to, well, to stay, just a little longer.”

 

He waited patiently while she fiddled with the strap of her satchel.

 

“I mean,” she breathed heavily, “I’ve only just _found_ you…again…and…”

 

She didn’t have the words. In her experience, words weren’t really a useful thing to have. Language, yes, very useful to know a variety of ways to tell a being to kriff off. Words, though. That was for the rich privileged travelers, making a pit stops on Jakku, on their way to bigger and more complicated things.

 

Again, Luke understood with little effort. Unfortunately, he moved too swiftly for her nerves so she stiffened when he wrapped his arms around her shoulders. The sense of him was strong, though. It was nothing but gentle and that weird _safe_ feeling, so she almost instantly relaxed against him.

 

Artoo and Chewie were silent. Rey could hear the ocean.

 

She could hear the chatter of birds in the distance. She could hear the wind blowing across the briny rocks and through the soft grass. She could hear her father’s breaths and his heartbeat. Everything about the moment fed her hunger.

 

Her stomach growled. She almost didn’t notice – very used to not noticing – especially since growling wasn’t really as bad as that malnourished empty sensation that set in and made her head hurt. Luke noticed though and stepped back, keeping his hands on her shoulders.

 

“We can stay as long as you want,” he said. “I’m not going anywhere without you.”

 

Her instinct was to distrust that promise, but… Finn had come back to her. And she knew now what it was to hold the other end of that promise, as well. She _would_ go back to Finn. The foundation of her instincts had shifted. They rang with falseness. It made Rey nervous, to not trust her instincts.

 

“Right now, though,” Luke said. “I think you should eat something.”

 

~

 

The days were long on the planet Ahch-to, according to Luke, yet the air was very damp and cool.

 

“This island is on the northern hemisphere, as I’m sure you’re aware,” Luke explained, as if apologizing for the cold while he moved about the main cabin of the _Falcon_ , gathering ingredients for dinner. They didn’t want to waste power so Chewie had turned off the heating on the ship. It wasn’t really a problem for the Wookie but Rey, desert-raised and human, needed something extra. Luke had wrapped his Jedi cloak around Rey’s shoulders and if Rey concentrated she could hear a nice humming coming off its coarse weaving, like each thread was vibrating with power in an attempt to keep her warm.

 

She wondered if this was just the nature of Jedi cloaks or if Luke was intentionally influencing the Force around it in some way. He was clearly having trouble looking away from her and kept asking every few minutes if she was comfortable.

 

It was both endearing and scarily foreign.

 

Chewie had retreated to his quarters to nap. Rey didn’t think he had slept since Han had…

 

Luke had sensed this, somehow. He had laid a hand on the side of Chewie’s head, whispering, “To help you sleep,” before Chewie had stumbled off to his large cot. A few minutes later, loud snoring started echoing through the ship. This sort of display would’ve been disconcerting to Rey if the trust and open affection coming off both Luke and Chewbacca wasn’t so tangible. Luke was very gentle.

 

Artoo was following Luke around as he went through the ship’s supplies, offering little beeps of helpful calculation to let Luke know what he should or shouldn’t cook in order to stretch their provisions.

 

“The doctor at the base said I should work up to rich food,” Rey said.

 

Luke looked up from the bag of dehydrated grains he had been examining, his eyes wide. The implication of Rey's words must have been obvious to him, because his face was full of grief.

 

“I don’t really know what she meant by ‘rich.’” Rey shrugged awkwardly.

 

Luke nodded and visibly swallowed.

“I understand,” he said, a bit hoarsely.

 

Then, “Rey, where have you been?”

 

Rey wrapped his cloak tighter around herself, warding off some unidentifiable chill settling in her limbs.

 

“Waiting,” she said, quietly. “Just...waiting.”

 

She didn’t tell him everything. Some memories were for her. And despite it all, she was still unwilling to be so vulnerable.

 

It still felt good to unload some of the weight of Jakku.

 

And she _did_ tell him everything that happened in the past few days. Rescuing BeeBee from Teedo, fighting off TIE fighters with Finn, Han Solo and the rathtars (Luke had rolled his eyes fondly and sadly, at that), Maz Kanata’s basement, being tortured by Kylo Ren (Luke had put his head in his hands, like Leia, tears on his face), helping Han in the battle, watching his murder, waking up in the snow to see Kylo Ren _hurting_ Finn, calling the lightsaber desperately, the fight, the Force, and collapsing next to Finn on the cold ground – knowing it was too late, wishing she could see his smile again – before Chewie miraculously found them through the dense trees.

 

“This friend of yours,” Luke asked, after wiping away his tears. “Finn. Where did he come from?”

 

Rey wasn’t sure she wanted to tell Luke, a little nervous he would judge too quickly.

 

“He was a Stormtrooper,” she said.

 

She fixed Luke with an intense gaze, willing him to understand as she explained. “Apparently, the First Order kidnaps them as children, or something, and raises them to be soldiers. They don’t even get a name. He refused to kill for them, though, when they asked him to. He escaped by rescuing a Resistance pilot. But they crashed on Jakku.”

 

Luke was taking everything she said very seriously. It was a purely novel experience.

 

“He refused to kill?” Luke asked, looking solemn and thoughtful, as if he was slowly arriving on the answer to a mystery.

 

“Yes,” she said. “He tried to run. He was terrified they would find him again. But…”

 

She took a deep breath. This meant a lot to her. She hoped he would hear the significance she couldn’t properly articulate.

 

“He came back for me, after I was taken,” she said. “He came back.”

 

He gathered her in his arms.

 

“I’m glad he did,” he said. “I’m glad you have such a good friend. I understand why you are anxious to return to him.”

 

Rey felt the split in her head again and huffed out a sigh of frustration against his shoulder.

 

“I know you want to train here for a bit,” Luke began, “and I think we should start now. I can show you something that might help.”

 

Rey thought, bewildered, _This is what it’s like having a father_.

 

~

 

They sat on the cliffside after dinner, Rey still wearing Luke’s cloak, watching the sun set. She felt full and warm. She tried to concentrate on her breathing, but was having no luck clearing her mind as Luke instructed.

 

“Don’t breathe deeply,” Luke said softly. “You’re focused on breathing too much.”

 

“Isn’t that what you said?” Rey asked, annoyed.

 

“Yes,” he smiled. “But now you’re breathing consciously. The human species doesn’t have to breathe consciously. It’s an involuntary mechanism. You breathe without thinking about it or telling your body to do so. I want you to just watch your body. Sit back and watch yourself breathe, as you do normally without an audience. Take notice of your lungs and the pressure on your ribs. Notice how quiet and unassuming it is. How warm the back of your throat feels with each exhalation. How simple the task. In and out. A simple exchange of gases. The way it feeds your blood...”

 

The sunlight wasn't an overbearing blanket on her face. It was comforting. It's steady beams, the sweet and serene tones of Luke's voice, the even rhythm of his breath, her own breath sounding so much like the ocean...

 

Rey felt as if the top of her head was disappearing. She felt as if her body was both vanishing and becoming more real. She became hyperaware of her toes and fingers, her elbows and knees, her hips and the slight rustle of wind through the hair on her legs and arms.

 

She touched the part of her mind from where the Force flowed and at once her awareness expanded beyond her body. She could sense everything closely surrounding her and Luke. The grass slowly growing and the march of bugs across the soil. The air was suddenly deafening.

 

She felt Luke’s mind reach out to hers and she met him somewhere in the space around them.

 

She felt his voice echo _Now, recall Finn to your mind. Recall the experience of being near him._

Rey followed his direction and after a minute of focus she began to feel the weight of Finn’s smile on her face.

 

 _Good job,_ Luke said. _I see you two have already established a connection. Just follow that path and you will know._

Rey gasped when the sound of Finn’s breathing hit her ears. She could feel his numbed pain and sleepy warmth. It was _him_.

 

In her surprise she had torn herself out of the trance, but Luke was smiling at her proudly when she opened her eyes.

 

“That was a brilliant first attempt,” he said. “You have a lot of control over your abilities already.”

 

Rey was still reeling from the experience of being around Finn’s mind. In Finn’s mind?

 

“Did I?” she started, unsure how to ask. “Did I _read_ his mind?”

 

“No,” Luke said, a little sternly. “No, I wouldn’t teach you something like that. Even if you hadn’t gone through what you did. You are simply getting the same impression you would be getting if you read the Force in his physical presence. Through a bond. I suspected from your story that there is more to Finn than you might be entirely aware. A few days ago, I felt an awakening in the Force and I think your friend might have been that awakening. Strong force-sensitive beings will unconsciously create a bond of sorts if they go through an ordeal together or if they grow very close. Leia and I had unconsciously created one before I even knew she was my sister.”

 

“Wait,” Rey asked, frowning. “If you have a bond in the Force with Leia, how come she didn’t know where you were or how to find you?”

 

“The bond doesn’t reveal location,” Luke said. “It only gives you a glimpse into state of mind or intention. You can find someone at the other end of the bond if they are projecting that intent, strongly, but only then. And even so, if the projection is trying to work across light-years of the galaxy, it might not do the job.”

 

“So,” Rey said, unsure, “Finn is force-sensitive?”

 

“Yes, I think so,” Luke said. “He can wield a lightsaber against a Force-user and you undoubtedly have a small bond with him. The timeline of his story also matches up with what I have sensed in the Force.”

 

“And with this bond I can check up on him? Without invading his head?”

 

“Indeed. My own with Leia has certainly been very comforting throughout the years. I hope she recognizes Finn’s sensitivity and helps him to find _you_.”

 

Rey looked down at her hands folded in her lap, a fluttery warmth blooming in her chest. Some of the anxiety of leaving Finn and Leia was dissipating. A feeling of control was growing in her mind and she identified _fondness_ , of all things, for the man sitting across from her.

 

Luke stood smoothly and offered her a hand up.

 

“I _do_ understand wanting to be there for your friends,” he said. “I’ll never try to keep you from them, like my old masters.”

 

Rey hadn’t realized that was something she had to worry about.

 

“Is that something Jedi normally do?” she asked, her mind working rapidly, pure panic climbing up her throat and raising the back of her neck. “Not have friends? Is it bad to have friends? Is that why you ran away, because you were too attached? Because you were too attached to your nephew? That’s why Darth Vader turned, right?”

 

“Rey!” Luke cut her off. “Rey, love, breathe.”

 

She nodded and took several deep breaths.

 

“Well, you certainly know your history,” he said, amused, but Rey didn’t have the energy to embarrassed about the things she had apparently always known about her father before knowing he was, in fact, her father. “Where did you learn all that?”

 

“Everyone knows how the Old Republic fell and then how you killed the Emperor,” she said. “Also, people leave all sorts of data behind on Jakku. It’s a junkyard. I found some ancient fanmags from the Clone Wars era, once. And Han Solo told me about your nephew. Sort of. He didn’t say it was your nephew, but I kind of put it together. After. Um.”

 

A flash of grief went off in Luke’s eyes before he blinked and the soft affection returned.

 

“My father fell for a lot of reasons,” Luke said. “His attachment to my mother was one of those reasons, but ultimately it only became a problem due to a lot of complicated factors and extenuating circumstances. Nothing ever really happens because of one reason. Nature isn’t determined by one action. Nature is too complex and mysterious to be able to assume otherwise.”

 

The subject matter was growing too abstract for Rey’s taste.

 

“You’re glad that I have a friend, though,” she prompted.

 

“The Old Jedi Order was wrong about a lot of things,” Luke said. “Including their absurd non-attachment policy. I only said I would never try to keep you from your friends because one of my old masters did so to me. Yoda was quite the menace, sitting comfortably on his absolute philosophies and relative ethics. Maddening, really.”

 

“Who’s Yoda?” Rey asked.

 

Luke grinned, some his sadness dimming in the cheeky edge of his smile.

 

“Oh,” he said. “Just a crazy old swamp goblin who likes to ride around on people’s backs.”

 

Before Rey could even attempt to process this, croaky voice intoned out of nowhere, “An ungrateful padawan, you are."

 

She jumped and yelped, grabbing her staff and swinging it wide.

 

A little blue being with a walking stick and large ears smiled up at her as her staff swung through the top of his head.

 

She gasped, “What?” glancing up at Luke who now had his hands on his hips and was glaring down at the transparent blue being.

 

“Yoda, am I,” the being said. “Or, Yoda, was I. Jedi Ghost, am I, now.”

 

Luke said, “Go away.”

 

Suddenly, two other figures popped into being behind Yoda, both blue and smiling widely in amusement.

 

“She is strong with the Force,” the one with the beard said.

 

“Are you sure she’s your daughter? Didn’t she die?” the other asked.

 

Rey gaped at Luke, who had turned his glare to the human ghosts.

 

“Are you serious?” Luke asked, waving a hand in their direction. “She’s only just started to use her powers, and you think it’s okay to just appear without any warning?”

 

“Well,” the bearded one said. “We didn’t get to meet her before the whole Ben mess. We had to take our chance now.”

 

“Don’t avoid the question, Luke. Are you sure she’s your Rey?”

 

“Yes, Father, I’m sure,” Luke said, rolling his eyes and looking infinitely younger with the gesture. Rey turned her gaze back to the ghost Luke had called ‘Father’ and found his piercing stare on her face. She moved a little closer to Luke and tried very hard not to think about Darth Vader.

 

“How do you know?” Anakin Skywalker asked, folding his arms and raising an eyebrow. “Could be an imposter. Or a spy. Or a Force illusion. I’m just trying to protect you, son.”

 

“Just because you didn’t recognize _me_ when we first met doesn’t mean _I_ don’t recognize _her_ ,” Luke snapped.

 

Rey felt a bit like she was eavesdropping until it occurred to her that she was the subject of the conversation.

 

“He’s my father,” she said, feeling something fierce in her gut spark with a strange mixture of fury and terror, as if this blue-ish man was going to snatch Luke away. “He is. I know it.”

 

The bearded ghost smiled warmly, his eyes crinkling with affection.

 

“You’re just like him,” he said to her. “It’s clear to me now. Just like him when he was your age.”

 

Anakin grumbled, “You’re far too trusting, Obi-wan.”

 

“And you lost the right to be overprotective when you cut off your own son’s hand,” Obi-wan replied, a bit smugly, examining his fingernails.

 

“Great fear, she has,” Yoda said, tapping his chin with a gnarled finger.

 

“This again,” Luke sighed.

 

“Who are you people?” Rey asked, eyeing Luke’s prosthetic hand in horror. (His own father chopped it off?)

 

“Welcome to the family,” Anakin said, smirking.

  

“Old Jedi Masters,” Obi-Wan said.

 

Luke smiled grimly.

 

“My old teachers,” he said quietly. “Or their spirits, in a way. Those who are strong enough in the Force can manifest themselves in it after death. It really is quite the nuisance.”

 

“You’ve opened yourself up to the Force enough that you can see us,” Obi-wan explained happily. “We’re here to guide you, should you ever need it.”

 

“She has a teacher already, Ben,” Luke said.

 

“Kylo Ren, your student, was,” Yoda said.

 

“That’s bit harsh, Master Yoda,” Anakin said, while Luke put his head in his palm. “I mean, Count Dooku was _your_ padawan, wasn’t he? Those in glass houses and all that.”

 

“Yes, I think it’s important to establish that a student’s actions aren’t absolute reflections of their teachers,” Obi-wan said.

 

Anakin snorted.

 

“I’d also like to establish that my most recent padawan saved the galaxy multiple times, and you can make of that what you will,” Obi-wan continued.

 

“ _My_ padawan, believe I, was he,” Yoda said, pointing his cane menacingly at Obi-wan.

 

“Can I just say that neither of you were very good teachers? And it was _my_ padawan that finally helped him out?” Anakin said.

 

“Ashoka met him when he’d already become a Master _and_ she’s not even a Jedi in the first place! That doesn’t count, you know it doesn’t,” Obi-wan said.

 

 “Children! Are we really having this argument again?” Luke said, interrupting Anakin before he could launch into an angry diatribe.

 

Rey started laughing at the ashamed look on Obi-wan and Anakin’s faces.

 

“I’m sorry about them,” Luke was saying. “The Force has such a strong presence here that when they manifest they bring with them a large amount of old history and…personality.”

 

Rey snorted again at the affronted look all three Masters were giving Luke, who was now ignoring them and smiling fondly at Rey.

 

“Anyway,” Luke said. “First lesson: your friendships are important. And with the Force, you’re never truly apart.”

 

~

 

The ghosts didn’t appear very often after that. Rey suspected Luke gave them a stern lecture. Rey herself was a little delighted that the sacred Jedi Masters of Old, that so much of the galaxy seemed to revere, were actually just as human as everyone else. Their volatility was a strange comfort.

 

It took a week for that human volatility to explode in her face.

 

Every day, Rey would wake at down to meditate with Luke for two hours. Then they would eat breakfast with Chewie, send a brief update to Leia who would send a brief update back, and then go meditate some more.

 

After lunch, Luke would take Rey through some traditional lightsaber forms. They didn’t mix well with her current fighting style, relying more on defensive maneuvers then she was used to. This meant she had to unlearn quite a bit, but she was happy to do so. Lightsabers were dangerous and to use them offensively is a devastating act – leading to rather permanent consequences. Luke had explained this wryly while wiggling the fingers of his mechanical hand prompting Rey to push down a wave of nausea.

 

Every day Rey walked the path of her bond with Finn, taking note of his levels of pain and whether he was hungry or too cold or too hot. The third day she checked on him, he was awake and that familiar experience of loneliness which they had recognized in each other so quickly was sitting heavily on his mind. The next day, to her great relief, it had been lessened. She didn’t know by whom but she was grateful nonetheless.

 

She got to know her father.

 

It was difficult, at first.

 

She wasn’t used to being around so many affectionate beings at once. Chewie and Artoo were caring companions and took to her very quickly. Artoo would tell her funny stories from a childhood she barely remembered and show her holos of herself running around in only a diaper, covered in mud, while a long pair of legs chased after her. She would work with Chewie in the evenings adding unnecessary repairs to the ship, listening to all his stories about Han and his Wookie family, now off on adventures of their own. Luke would sit nearby with Artoo, who had so far been very unwilling to leave Luke’s side, and laugh along with Rey at some of the more ridiculous things Han got up to with his ex-husband and fellow pirate, Lando Calrissian.

 

Luke, though, had been just as alone as she for the past ten years. It was awkward. Rey wasn’t a good talker and Luke had a lot of fresh pain he didn’t want to share with anyone. That he wasn’t used to sharing with anyone.

 

They mainly conversed through the medium of Force-lessons. The relationship of student and teacher, at least, was more easily defined than that of an estranged father and daughter. They spent their time in the old Temple – a place so old and powerful that it made Rey a little nervous, and sitting in the middle of Luke’s vegetable garden – where Rey felt very secure, indeed.

 

This was all fine and good until Rey woke up from a violent nightmare and went to meditate on the cliffside.

 

It wasn’t doing any good and the storm building on the horizon was crackling with an energy she hadn’t ever encountered before.

 

A thunderstorm. Rey had only heard of those. On Jakku, the rainstorms that happened every two years or so happened in a flash, a rapid dumping of moisture, before retreating back into the atmosphere. But here, there was thunder and flashes of purple light. It was nerve-wracking.

 

Luke found her, still very on edge from her nightmare of Kylo Ren and being abandoned again, staring out at the approaching clouds.

 

“Can I help?” he asked.

 

Rey shook her head. She’s had nightmares before. Granted, never when she had so much connection to the Force and never about so terrifying a monster, but she’s always taken care of herself. She can do so now.

 

“Pushing down what you’re feeling isn’t healthy, Rey,” Luke said softly, sitting down next to her.

 

The wind was blowing fiercely. The stars hadn’t yet been drowned out by the swiftly moving storm, but it was slowly getting darker.

 

“I’m not pushing anything down.” Even as she said it, her mind was frantically trying to repair the edges of her control.

 

She would not be afraid. She wasn’t afraid. There was nothing to be afraid of. No one was in her head.

 

“Would you like me to meditate with you?” Luke asked.

 

“No,” Rey said. When they meditated together, their minds came in contact through the Force. Rey did not want this. She didn’t need his help in her _own_ head.

 

“I’m here, Rey,” Luke said, still in that incredibly gentle voice of his. “I’m here for you.”

 

Rey watched a bolt of lightning strike through the dense clouds miles over the sea. The wind was so cold, like ice. Like the metal restraints on her arms. Like the snow freezing in Finn’s hair. Like Kylo Ren’s hand pushing into her mind and _taking_ whatever he wanted.

 

She was crying now and Luke was crouched in front her, his hands up in a placating gesture, saying something, but she couldn’t hear him or maybe couldn’t understand the language he was using. His mouth moved and Rey could read her name on his lips.

 

She heard her name echoing, not in Luke’s soft voice, but in Finn’s terrified shout. She could feel his terror. Luke was fading from her sight and all she could see Finn’s back as he walked away. Kylo’s black gloved hand stretching out towards her face, _he’s going to strangle her mind. The snow was so cold and wet and Finn was dying, screaming out in pain. Everything was bright blood red or blinding blue. He’s in her head. She’s waiting for her family. They’re never going to come. She’s alone. She’ll always be alone. She’s scared._ No. Rey tried to quash her terror, but _it’s growing. And growing. It’s so cold. Desert nights filled with snowy trees. So cold._

 

Someone’s warm hands were gripping her biceps and shaking.

 

“Rey!” It was Luke. Her dad. He was here.

 

“Rey,” he was saying (shouting). “You have to stop. Your power is too great to control right now. Let go.”

 

She glanced down at her body and there was a crackling light jumping off her skin. It was the lightening from the storm. _It’s taken a hold of me._ Terrified, she pushed back from Luke and tumbled over. She stood and tried to wipe off the energy but it only sparked brighter. She could feel the power building up. The smell of ozone was suffocating her.

 

Luke was in front of her again, reaching for her arms. But once his hands made contact with her skin, it lashed out and struck him. Rey watched terrified as his body was thrown away from her, rolling violently to a stop near the cliff’s edge.

 

He was up in an instant and making his way towards her again. The storm was closing in.

 

Every inch of Rey was convinced he shouldn’t be allowed closer. She had no control. The same rage she had unleashed in her fight with the monster was clawing through her blood. She was going to _hurt_ him.

 

As Luke approached she held out a hand to stop him, but that was a mistake. Guided by her terror and leftover lonely rage, the lightning shot off her fingertips. She could only gaze in horror as the deadly bolt struck out at her father.

 

But then, Rey felt a ripple in the Force and time seemed to slow down. Luke threw up both his arms, spreading them wide, as the lightning raced towards him. It struck his chest and Rey screamed.

 

He closed his arms over his sternum and fell to his knees. His body was shaking and the tips of his clothes and hair appeared to be burning. Just when Rey thought he was going to burst from the power, he raised his left hand to the sky and the lightning shot from his index finger, up into the clouds where it flashed and then rumbled and then disappeared.

 

The rain started to fall.

 

Rey collapsed on the grassy hillside.

 

~

 

Chewie had apparently heard Rey’s scream and come to the rescue. He had found Luke, very weak and bleeding from his chest, struggling to carry Rey down to the ship, slipping pathetically on the stone and mud.

 

After Chewie had slapped a Bacta patch on Luke and gotten Rey’s core temperature back to a normal level, he had done a lot of yelling about stupid Jedi and their stupid powers and how the galaxy would be a lot better if everyone just let the Force be. During his loud rant Rey had awoken to see a very sad Luke dripping and shivering, his hands bloody, petting a distraught Artoo’s head.

 

“It’s my fault, Chewie,” she said. “No, don’t yell, it’s my fault.”

 

Luke shot up at the sound of her voice, but Chewie pushed him back into his seat with an indignant roar.

 

“Rey, darling,” Luke said, shoving off Chewie’s hairy arm and trying to stand again. Chewie threw his arms up in frustration, turning away to clean up his medical supplies. “Are you okay? How do you feel? Are you warm enough?”

 

Rey was about to reply but the moment Luke tried to take a step he fell forward with a cry of pain. With Jedi-reflexes, she managed to catch him before he face-planted, but she had grabbed at his chest, inducing a sharp hiss as her arm pressed against the Bacta patch.

 

She twisted him around and laid him down, face up, on the deck. His face was pinched and he was bleeding through the Bacta. Chewie carefully lifted his body and set him down gently on the bench Rey had previously occupied.

 

Luke squinted up at Chewie’s admonishing roar and then started laughing.

 

Rey and Chewie exchanged nervous looks.

 

“What’s so funny?” she snapped. “Why are you laughing?”

 

Luke shook his head but quieted his guffaws.

 

“Well, it’s a bit amusing,” he wheezed, clearly still experiencing a great amount of pain. “I’ve been here before, you know.”

 

He gestured at the bench with his mechanical hand.

 

“This is where Lando dropped me during our speedy getaway from Bespin, after Darth Vader chopped my hand off and then asked me to join him to rule the galaxy,” he said, holding back strained chuckles.

 

 Rey could’ve punched him.

 

Chewie punched the wall and the stormed off, roaring, “You can deal with him.”

 

~

 

The storm raged on, but despite its garbage appearance, the _Millenium Falcon_ held. Luke had fallen into a deep healing sleep, self-induced, apparently, because Jedi can do that. Rey had removed the Bacta patch. It wouldn’t do any good all-bloodied up like that.

 

She had been washing the wound for several hours, watching it rapidly scab and wiping away the plasma and blood. It was a severe burn, more than anything, so she was more concerned with pulling the heat out and keeping it from getting infected then staving off the small-blood flow. Artoo had informed her that the flow rate wasn’t anywhere near fatal levels and that Luke’s healing sleep was replenishing the supply anyway.

 

The Force sure worked in mysterious ways.

 

“You’re not nearly as strong as the Emperor was,” Anakin’s ghost said, popping into existence beside her. “At least, not yet.”

 

Rey ignored him in favor of watching the slight rustle of hair under Luke’s nose move with every breath.

 

“And, keep in mind, this isn’t the first time a family member has severely injured him,” he continued. “So, you know, he’s used to it.”

 

“That is possibly the worst thing you could’ve possibly said to me, right now,” Rey ground out around her clenched jaw. “Right after comparing me to the Emperor, you go on to compare me to Darth Vader. You are the _worst_.”

 

Anakin had the gall to laugh.

 

_Why was everyone laughing?_

 

“I’m trying to say that if Luke can forgive _me_ for intentionally dismembering him he can almost certainly forgive _you_ for accidentally losing a little control of your not-quite-developed power,” Anakin said. “Also, he definitely loves you more.”

 

“Yeah, and look where _forgiving_ and _loving_ has gotten him,” Rey said bitterly. “Living alone on this cold island for ten years with only birds for friends.”

 

“He saved the galaxy when he saved me,” Anakin said sternly. “That’s what _loving_ got him. Others have made their own choices, Rey. He can’t claim them. And neither can you. Which is what I suspect this is really about. You.”

 

“You think I don’t care about him?” Rey asked, sharply offended.

 

“Of course you care,” Anakin said, rolling his eyes. “I think you’re worried _about_ that care. Kylo Ren was able to use Han Solo’s care against him so he could murder him. Finn’s care for you got him almost fatally injured. Your care for your father left you abandoned and alone and scared on a desert planet for ten years, trapped in that terrible place by your own sense of loyalty and the promise that one day he would find you again.”

 

Anakin was joined by Obi-wan, who slowly manifested facing Rey with that same crinkly smile in his eyes from before.

 

“It’s an ancient Jedi struggle, Rey,” Obi-wan said. “For the Skywalkers, it’s always been a bigger struggle than most, because of Anakin’s origin. Your power is immense and so your control over it must be immense. So far only one of you has managed to find the balance.”

 

“Leia counts,” Anakin protested. “Just because she’s not Jedi doesn’t mean she doesn’t have the same struggle.”

 

“Alright,” Obi-wan conceded, amused. “Only two of you. And only one Jedi. Perhaps it’s generational.”

 

Anakin attempted to hide his smile behind a glare. It didn’t work.

 

“The point is, Rey,” Anakin continued. “Is that the fact that you’re so scared of your power isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It shows your heart is in the right place. And if you follow your father’s guidance, he can show you how _caring_ isn’t the threat it feels like right now.”

 

“Strong, your father is,” Yoda said, walking around the corner as if he had been there the whole time. “Left training, he did. Loyalty to friends, he has. His father, not kill, he did. Not alone, are you.”

 

He walked back out.

 

“That’s the nicest thing he’s ever said about Luke,” Obi-wan said, slightly stunned. Then he turned to Rey and grinned. “I think he likes you.”

 

“Probably because she’s adopted,” Anakin said.

 

~

 

It was nearly mid-day by the time Luke woke from his sleep. Rey was helping Chewie with repairing the _Falcon_ from the storm damage when Luke came out, gingerly walking with Artoo close on his heels, in case he should need the assistance.

 

“Come down, Rey,” he called. “Let’s go meditate.”

 

Rey glanced at Chewie who gave a nod of support before taking the tools from her hands. She clambered off the ship and followed Luke onto the beach just below. She was very glad he had evidently decided on his own against climbing up the hill. She didn’t have the emotional energy to convince him otherwise.

 

The beach was very familiar. So much sand. Her legs adjusted automatically to marching through the dunes. The walk was easier than it normally would be from the rain the night before.

 

Luke walked to nearly the edge of the tide before plopping down and reaching to tug off his boots. Rey, curious, followed suit. He rolled up his trousers and carefully stood, Artoo beeping at him to not overdo it. Luke patted his dome and smiled.

 

“Well,” he said, placing his hands on his hips. “Let’s go.”

 

Rey watched befuddled as he walked into the surf until the water was well past his knees. She wondered why he had even bothered to roll his pants up if he was going to go that deep, but thought that asking would only lead to more confusion. She followed him into the waves. Wading in water was perhaps the strangest of new experiences yet.

 

When she reached him he held out his mechanical hand, which she latched onto eagerly, the roiling push of the waves on her legs making her a little nervous that she would topple right over. And she absolutely did not know how to swim.

 

“I grew up on a desert planet, too,” Luke said, gazing out, past the sea shelf, to the horizon. “I didn’t want that for you. It was a miserable experience, as I’m sure you’re now well aware. But when you were young, I wanted to raise you where there were trees and flowers and great big lakes that reflected the sky. I went to a lot of trouble taking you to all sorts of places where you could play and explore as children should. Do you remember any of it?”

 

Rey’s mind flipped through a host of fantasies she’s returned to, time and time again. Dreams of mossy trees and gray mountains and yellow fields that she had always assumed were make-believe grew clearer with his words.

 

“I guess I always thought I was just making it up, that they weren’t real places,” she whispered, skimming her hand across the bubbly sea surface, watching a clump of seaweed drift by.

 

“At least you had that,” he said. Rey briefly wondered if this was a part of aging, this constant melancholy that hung from Luke’s eyes. She didn’t remember it on any other adults she’d met, though. Perhaps it’s just Luke.

 

“The first time I saw an ocean up close was when Han, Leia and I took a vacation to Naboo,” Luke said. “That’s where our mother was from. She was a queen and Senator there. Leia had been before, but I hadn’t. Only places I’d been were Tatooine and wherever I was sent in the war. A vacation was a foreign concept to me. Still is to Leia, I expect.”

 

Rey tried to imagine General Organa lying on a beach or hiking in some picturesque mountains and found it was as impossible as imagining Unkar Plutt singing a lullaby.

 

“Han wanted to go to the Lake Country but I wanted to see the ocean and since Leia is a very protective older sister despite having been born second, she sided with me over her husband. At first, I was quite disappointed with the trip. Flying through miles of sand dunes was an experience I never really wished to revisit, an experience I had hoped to have left behind after I enacted a rather merciless bit of justice against that slug slaver, Jabba. The grass on the dunes grew thinner the closer we got to the sea and only made it worse. But then the speeder crested over the last dune and I saw the shore and the ocean.”

 

Rey realized that they were swaying slightly in the sea, as if their bodies were listening to a tune neither of their ears could hear. Her feet were now sturdily covered in sand below the water and she could feel the undercurrent rush against her ankles gently with every surge.

 

“Breathe,” Luke said softly. “Just breathe.”

 

Rey closed her eyes against the bright sun. The breeze caught on her loose hair. Her ribs held each breath carefully before slowly letting go. Her throat was warm with the moving air.

 

 “What do you feel?” he asked

 

“It’s warm,” she said. “The water. It’s warm. That is, I know the water is cool, not warm. But it _feels_ warm. Does that make sense?”

 

Luke squeezed her hand.

 

“Yes, Rey darling,” he said. “It does.”

 

They stood there in the surf for a few more peaceful moments.

 

Tears started to fall down Rey’s cheeks without her permission.

 

“I’m sorry,” she said brokenly. “I should’ve listened. I was just so scared. I was so _scared_.”

 

Luke pulled her to his side and wrapped his arms around her shoulders while she circled hers around his waist. She sobbed into his shoulder, feeling the grief of so many lonely years washing against her.

 

“ _I’m_ sorry, Rey,” he said into her hair. “I should’ve looked for you, shouldn’t have given you up so easily. No matter how painful it would’ve been, hoping you were still alive in spite of it all, I should’ve looked for you. Found you.”

 

Rey weakly shook her head against him, but was unwilling to separate to properly tell him he didn’t have to apologize.

 

Then it occurred to her that she didn’t have to apologize either. That maybe they were both apologizing to people they didn’t need to. That maybe they were saying “I’m sorry,” to themselves.

 

“I’m here,” he said. “Not leaving. We’re in this together.”

 

Rey watched in fascination as her whole being believed him. 

 

He had taken her lightning bolt to his chest, knowing full well the pain it would bring, and now he was here, holding her in the cold but warm water.

 

“I missed you,” she said. “Don’t leave anymore.”

 

“I won’t. I missed you more than anything.”

 

~

 

After two more weeks of healing time for Luke, Rey was ready to get back to the Resistance. Chewbacca was very relieved, having run out of things to do to his ship and getting tired of practically sitting on Luke to get him to rest. Artoo seemed eager to get in an X-wing, again.

 

Rey was happy to let Luke fly the ship. There was a funny boyish eagerness when Chewie had offered and she recalled that Luke Skywalker was an ace pilot before he was a Jedi hero.

 

She sat behind them with Artoo as they calculated the course to the Resistance’s new headquarter base. (Not that the Resistance was big enough to require more than one base of operation.) The coded transmission they had received had taken Chewie a solid four hours to crack and he was still unsure if he had succeeded. Luke seemed to trust him, though, and Rey was inclined to agree.

 

The trip through hyperspace was a few hours, as the new base was nearly as remote as Ahch-to. Rey played sabacc with Artoo through most of it while Chewbacca caught Luke up with a lot of classified information Rey didn’t want to be privy to.

 

When they arrived, her bond with Finn sparked, and she ran into the cockpit, exclaiming, “This must be the base!”

 

Luke was slightly pale but he smiled at her, with that same gentle sadness that Rey was coming to expect whenever he wanted to remind himself she was still alive.

 

“I wonder if Leia is going to slap me or stun me,” he mused, stroking his beard.

 

Chewie laughed but Rey said, “So long as she avoids further maiming your chest.”

 

“It’s hard to know with her. She’s quite ruthless.”

 

“From all the stories I’ve heard about her, I thought she would be seven feet tall with sharpened teeth.”

 

Chewbacca growled happily at this, saying, _No, that’s me._

“Leia made friends with the Ewoks,” Luke said, as they entered atmosphere. “What that says about her, I don’t know. But it certainly says something.”

 

~

 

It was evening at the base. And cold.

 

“We’ll have to get you your own cloak soon,” Luke said, as Rey shivered under the roughly-woven poncho he had lent her. Rey wrapped her arms around him one more time before following Artoo and Chewie down the ramp.

 

The sun was bright and the air clear and dry. From one glance around she could see that it was a mountainous and colorful planet, that the terrain was bright and beautiful. When she looked down, she almost froze at the sight of the crowd gathered around the ship, but reminded herself that they definitely weren’t waiting for her. She looked back to her father as he straightened his spine and pulled his hood over his head.

 

He grinned down at her and nodded encouragingly. She felt light with his support.

 

She turned back to the crowd, searching through all the anxious faces for just the one she’d been longing to see for weeks.

 

There he was, Finn, grinning, standing next to Leia. Commander Dameron was crouched at his side, holding back a very excited BB-8. She briefly noticed Admiral Antilles and Dr. Kalonia gathered around the General, before she took off.

 

“Finn,” she shouted, elated. He ran up to meet her and she, completely forgetting that he might still be recovering from a back injury, launched herself into his arms. He was laughing and saying her name as he spun her around.

 

“You’re alright,” she said, happier than she’s ever been. “Your back, it’s alright?”

 

“Well, obviously,” he said, smirking, still holding her up by her waist. She punched his shoulder as he gently set her down. She couldn’t help but scoop him into a hug again, this time lifting _his_ feet off the ground.

 

He yelped and clutched at her shoulders, still laughing.

 

She dropped him when BB-8 rolled into her calves, beeping very cheerfully about how seriously she had taken her solemn task to care for Finn in Rey’s long absence.

 

“BeeBee, buddy,” Commander Dameron said, grinning and jogging up to them. “Let her get a word in. Calm down.”

 

“Okay,” Finn said. “I get that she’s talking about me, but I don’t know what she’s saying. Are you telling her about the time with the fruit? If you are, _I’m_ going to tell her about the time you accidentally –”

 

He was cut off by a betrayed beeped gasp along with a handful of rather rude words, which had Dameron blushing and Rey guffawing.

 

“Alright,” Dameron scolded, nudging his droid. “That’s enough out you, you brat. You better come up with a good apology for later.”

 

Finn crossed his arms, smug, while BeeBee twittered a bitter huff.

 

Rey jumped as she heard a man shout, “Alright, children! You’ve seen the circus! The One and Only Legendary Luke Skywalker now needs a Jedi Nap! Get back to your stations, you nosy scoundrels!”

 

Rey turned to the source of the voice and saw a brown-skinned man un-cup his hands from around his mouth while Leia said, “Lando, you’re not nearly as funny as you think you are.”

 

She saw her Father standing between them, laughing, his flesh hand clutched by both of Leia’s, and Admiral Antilles standing next to Lando, smirking.

 

She grabbed Finn’s hand and tugged him over.

 

“Dad,” she said, her heart bursting at being able to say the name out loud, at finally getting the reward for her diligent patience. Luke’s eyes snapped to hers immediately, eyes wide and loving.

 

“Rey,” he said, ever gentle.

 

Leia swooped in for a hug before Rey could speak. When she pulled back, she said, “I’ve always wanted to be an Aunt.”

 

For the span of few seconds, Rey found it difficult to breathe. Her family was quite big now. Finn’s hand squeezing hers and Luke’s exasperated voice saying, “Leia,” pulled her back.

 

“Dad,” she said again, tugging Finn to her side. “This is Finn.”

 

Luke held out his hand and said, “Hello, Finn. I’ve heard all about your heroics. It’s a real honor to meet you.”

 

Rey could sense the heat of Finn's blush in the Force.

 

~

 

Later, after Finn had done his best to show Rey all the wonderful food and entertainment they had been missing out on in their rather miserable childhoods and BB-8 had shared all the gossip she had about the rampant hormonal emotions of all the organic beings on base and Commander Dameron had finally introduced himself properly and became Poe, Rey was ready for a little bit of solitude.

 

Solitude with Finn, that is.

 

Chewie had caved earlier under the combined powers of Lando Calrissian and Princess Leia to join them for a drink. So they sat under the _Falcon_  for optimal quiet.Rey had brought out one of the blankets from the ship and they were both huddled under it, chattering about all the things they’d been learning in their respective Force training and sipping on a drink Luke insisted they try: hot chocolate.

 

Rey was trying not to think about the future and the responsibilities slowly being piled on her and her friend. She wondered if this was how her father felt, all those years, ago, as the weight of the galaxy creeped upon him.

 

But no, it wasn’t. Luke didn’t really have anyone, for years. He was the Last of the Jedi and the first of the New.

_No one was in_ this _fight alone._

 

It was a bewildering thought to Rey.

 

But that didn’t mean she didn’t believe it.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Title and quote from "Gilead" by Marilynne Robinson


End file.
